Insights: Financials

Credit Card Interest Rate Cap

President Trump posted that he is “calling for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates of 10%.” A broad set of industry stakeholders representing banks of all sizes and payment networks (i.e., American Bankers Association, Independent Community Bankers Association, others) immediately issued statements noting that an interest rate cap will...

Financials, Macro

Fed/Supreme Court

The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) yesterday heard oral arguments in the Slaughter case – the first of the various lawsuits challenging President Trump’s ability to fire members of independent boards to appear before the court for argumentation. As a reminder, SCOTUS has scheduled separate oral arguments in the Cook case – regarding the legality of...

Financials, Macro

Federal Reserve/Chair Nomination

A variety of developments have occurred that suggest President Trump is preparing to nominate NEC Director Hassett to a seat on the Fed Board and as Chair. Some market participants have reportedly expressed concern to Treasury Secretary Bessent that Hassett would be too willing to cut rates aggressively to please Trump. However, a number of...

Deposit Insurance

The 11/18 House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) hearing on the FDIC deposit insurance limit made clearer what up to that point key House Republicans had been generally signaling - that they have significant reservations about increasing the limit. Chair Hill (R-AK) expressed concern about “potential unintended consequences,” while other...

Bank Capital/Liquidity

Bank regulators last week issued their final eSLR rule, which is largely consistent with what they proposed earlier this year, reflecting a reduction in the ratio but not a full exemption for Treasuries. Industry trade associations (e.g., BPI, FSF, SIFMA) praised the final rule and noted it would allow for more intermediation in the Treasury...

Crypto Market Structure/Stablecoins

Senate Republicans are pushing for a vote on crypto market structure legislation in the Banking and Agriculture Committees by the end of this year. They had hoped the committee votes would take place in September, but negotiations with Democrats have not proceeded smoothly and the process is moving more slowly than anticipated. A set of...